More than just a fan.....

A lot of people have asked how I became such a big fan of hockey. So I kinda feel the need to come clean.

I am 100% a fake fan. 

I have “watched” hundreds of Caps games and I still don’t know the rules. And now that I am elderly, I can barely see that little puck flying around at warp speed.

I am, however, a legit, loyal, devoted Washington Capitals fan. 

But I am not here for the hockey.

For those of you who are new here, our son, Bensten, was in an accident when he was 6 years old and was left in a coma with a life threatening brain injury. Lance and I (and my SIL Shannon) were behind closed doors in the PICU, while my 4 brothers held camp in the hospital waiting room. The entire time B-man was in a coma, they were there, waiting for some type of update. If you know my brothers, you know I often joke that when they get together, they share a brain. In this case, they used their powers for good- and started the ‘pray4bman’ hashtag. They spread it through our community asking for prayers. One of my brothers had Caps season tickets and reached out to the organization just asking for prayers. Somehow, within hours, we had tons of Caps fans praying for our boy. I don’t even know the full extent of their support- I know one time when I went to the waiting room to give my family an update, Alan May was sitting in the waiting room with them. Wes Johnson sent a signed puck and stick directly to the PICU! RMND/ Ian Oland generated so many prayers! I could go on and on....The entire experience was surreal, but the outpouring of support buoyed us more than I can explain.

What I do know for certain is that the Caps presence when B was hospitalized was just the beginning of my complete love and adoration of the Caps organization. The players offered to come visit Bensten. He wasn’t ready for any type of visitors, so they found other ways to show their support - sending videos, cards, jerseys. They treated Bensten like some type of royalty, yet all he was was a 6 year old boy, who was following his uncles’ lead and learning to be a Washington Capitals fan. But all the support played a huge role in his recovery. And the prayers definitely had a profound impact. Over the course of the 3 months B-man was hospitalized, the entire Caps organization rallied around our family. When we returned home from in-patient rehab, a group of the players came to visit Bensten. It was Mike Greene, Backstrom, Wilson, Michael Latta and Ovi. Funny enough, I didn’t know who any of these people were, so my family made me a cheat sheet with their pictures ahead of time in hopes I would call them by the right name and not embarrass my family!!! (BTW, I nailed it!)

And Ted Leonsis invited our family to a game, gave us a suite and treated us like we were more than just an ordinary family. They took us into the locker room after the game. I mean, Bensten was the happiest I have ever seen him, despite still being in the throes of relearning how to walk, talk, read….Life was hard, but the Caps made it so much more enjoyable for my boy.

Tom Wilson was just a kid when he came and played street hockey with Bensten in our driveway. He was maybe 20 years old at the time. But he was so incredibly kind- and really seemed to care about our boy. I started baking for him and dropping stuff at the practice rink. You all know I love to bake for people, so I didn’t think much of it. But eventually, Tom mentioned that his girlfriend liked to bake- and asked me to share my oatmeal carmelita recipe with her. That was how I met Taylor of Taylor Lane Custom Cookies!  We started baking together during the pandemic. Fun fact- she was actually the only person we let in our house for nearly 2 years!

And then in a crazy twist of fate, many years later, Boeden’s Little league baseball coaches were Nic Backstrom, TJ Oshie along with Karl Alzner. It’s probably no shock that I had no idea Karl was an ex- NHL player- and if you saw Coach Nic, Coach TJ and Coach Karl out on the baseball field, you would never know they were professional athletes. They were so patient with the kids, especially Boeden. Boeden had very little athletic potential and raging anxiety. The patience and kindness these men showed my boy was mind boggling. They actually restored my faith in man kind!

So while I might never understand the game of hockey- I have such respect and adoration for the entire Caps organization. As they enter the playoffs, I just want everyone to know that these men who seem so rough on the ice are some of the kindest people we have ever met. So let’s all root for them as they have rooted for my boy!  Let’s go CAPS!!!

(I'll include videos some pictures from the day they came to visit and B watching the video of all the Caps organization rooting B on when he was first hospitalized! I might have taken a long stroll down memory lane. Nothing makes me more grateful on Mother's Day to see how far my boy has come thanks to all the support!)

Just the Washington Capitals hanging out in our family room....

B asked to interview Tom for a school project- not only did he say yes, he did it from B's bedroom!

This!!! I mean, they put so much time and effort into a perfect stranger. I am not kidding when I say we had ZERO ties to anyone in the Caps organization.

B learns to walk (again) and plays hockey with the Caps just months later!

@RMND and Announcer Wes Johnson